Angelic Tear

OK….this is my first attempt to put a new painting into my blog….and to talk a bit about it.

Angelic Tear…………30″ x 37″ acrylic on canvas

This painting started out as a mandala for a sacred idealistic vision, a diamond crystal, tree of life, a dream of perfect union in Oneness. But it finished as another statement altogether. As i was painting, i was struck with the intervention of what felt to me like an Angelic Force, and it inspired an actual physical vertical cut from the top to halfway through the canvas. I was shocked at the living quality this painting had taken on. This Force was speaking to me through my painting! The painting continued to morph into new visions brought about by the tear, and the tear ( interesting that they are spelled the same way ), like a living hologram, into the finished one i have included here. A Gift to me in my quest for Truth…..and it keeps speaking to me even now.

6 Comments

Jan, you know I have followed, cherished, and possessed your art for a very long time now. This new vision that you present in your latest painting seems to be a real turning point in your art. I am not at all sure how this works, but as a poet I too have sensed that “forces” as you say, or perhaps the very muse itself, come through us and cause us to create something that is even surprising to ourselves, something we have to look at a bit closer until we see the deeper truth. Thank you for allowing me to see the morphing journey of this beautiful “tear and tear” It, for me, is one of your strongest and most exciting paintings you have done in a long time. All of them for me are beautiful and transcendent , but this speaks in a different tongue.

I deeply thank you Karima. I have the same admiration for your art, which continues to expand and amaze in its expression!
Your poetry is like miracles, each one so different, always penetrating…following your blog is a rich journey. Now i have my own blog, and this is my first attempt to use it. It is fitting that my first comment should be from you!!! May the mysterious “forces” ( muse? ) continue to find expression through us.

It was pretty much this time of year, in 1974, when a Land Rover came down one of the most inhospitable roads in all of Costa Rica and we met you. There in the middle of the Costa Rican Rain Forest, I got to see your incredible creativeness for the first time, and I was in awe. 37 years later, I look at your website and see some of the latest creations, and I am in another dimension. The evolution of Jan Betts. Nothing short of incredible. Love you and miss you! Jamie

Thank you , Jamie! Wow….yes i remember those jungle days!
The sensitivity heightened by this wild ambiance continues to find expression in many of my paintings. Ah yes…the other dimension….may its call to us only grow louder!!…..I miss you too, Jamie.

The cycle is complete; the flower dies, the eye cries, a tear feeds the budding flower. A painting of the inner soul?

Reminds me of a quote from Aeschylus’ tragedy Prometheus: “He who learns must suffer. Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart until, in our own despair, and against our will, comes wisdom by the awful grace of God.”